Anyone else receive a $1,900 check from Survey Assoc? I received in a priority express envelope. It says it’s for Walgreens. eBay gift cards.... seems a little fishy to me.

This is totally and completely a scam. It is a very common one going around right now. DO NOT DEPOSIT THE CHECK.

Here is how it works: You deposit the check and, by law, the bank makes the funds available after a few days. You then use the funds to purchase the gift cards, which you send to the scammer. Once you have done that, the scammer has perfectly good gift cards and, thereafter, the check is returned to the bank as fraudulent. You are out whatever you spent on gift cards plus whatever your bank charges you for depositing bad checks, overdrafts, etc.

Exactly - this is a known scam.

You can look up another example (as well as some advice on how to figure out a potential scam), on the following thread: https://www.secretshopforum.com/thread/3/6/333/warning-scam#post1900

I now have 3 new 'cashier checks' like this for $2500, $2300, and $2550.

I tried to deposite my first one a couple of months ago for $2300. The bank said that it was a very good attempt. It looked valid. There was a 'water mark' and looked official. It was bogus.

These I will just collect for fun. It costs them to send them out. I am also looking into reporting it to the authorities.

I'm glad the bank told you it was no good.

This is a complete scam. Someone tried to run this scam on me about 12 or 13 years ago. If you were to deposit the check, the bank will make the funds available relatively quickly. Then the bank would realize a few weeks later that the check is bogus and then your on the hook for the amount of the check then.

This scam is not as predominant as it was 3 yrs ago but my experience will offer some insight into what happens when you cash one of these checks. I was new to mystery shopping in 2017 when I was "targeted". My resume had been found on Career Builder during a time I was actively looking for work ( and in need of money) . I received an email inviting me to apply for a job. After a week correspondence by email, text, and phone calls., I received a mail delivery with a conditional offer for employment contingent on the my completion of the attached assignment which included a cashier's check. At the time, I believed I was being diligent. and thorough by calling and verifying the check with the bank. I spoke to a live person and the check verified. I even made sure I called a number different than the one printed on the check. I did not have a bank acct at the time so I went to a check cashing store. Everything went as expected and I carried out the task. I continued to receive additional assignments and even job offers from similar set ups but had a little voice in my head telling me to air on the side of caution and pass. About 2 months after I cashed the first check, I ignored that voice. I went to the same place to cash the 2nd check (verified, etc) but it wasn't so smooth. They pulled up my "account" / profile but went to the back this time to allegedly verify the funds. It was taking way too long and the behavior of the clerk was odd. That little voice told me to not wait and leave. When I asked for my ID and check back, they informed me they were "confiscating " it and announced the police were in route because the check from 2 months earlier was fraudulent. Long story short, I ended up with 2 felony warrants for Criminsl Simulation for which I had to plead guilty to because the law states once in my possession it was my responsibility to know it was fraudulent. Despite my efforts of verification and saving the packaging, emails, and phone records, I still went to jail and have been on probation ever since. Yes a good paid lawyer could have handled the matter but finances did not allow me to pay 5k for an attorney. My bond was 15k!!!! So I sat in jail for a month waiting for a public defender to make a deal with the DA to give me probation by pleading guilty to one of the two felonies. If that's not bad enough....due to it being act involving harm to a financial institution, my chex systems and Early Warning reports indicated I posed high risk resulting in me not being able to get a bank account or even cash a check at Walmart!

DON'T CASH ONE THOSE CHECKS NO MATTER HOW LEGITIMATE IT APPEARS YO BE!!!!

Sorry to hear that Angela, what a terrible experience.

That is so terrible!

If this really happened, it is tragic. If you could not afford a lawyer, a public defender should have been appointed for you. Unfortunately, while there is a constitutional mandate that those who cannot afford a lawyer are entitled to have one appointed for them (you have heard that part of the Miranda warnings on TV many times), there are several limitations on this principle that often make it ineffective. They all have to do with money. First, each jurisdiction establishes what the income standards are to qualify for an appointed lawyer, and in practice, usually only those who are completely impoverished will qualify. Those who have just a little income will neither qualify for an appointed lawyer, nor be able to hire one. Second, if a salaried public defender is appointed, they usually have such an unmanageably large case load that they have little time to give to each case. Third, if a private lawyer is appointed, this is frequently someone who lacks the experience or ability to attract clients on his/her own, and does not have the skills to be effective. And, if he does, the authorized pay for representing you is a small percentage (maybe 10%) of what a private lawyer would charge for the same work, so he has little incentive to put in the time to provide effective representation. As I said, it all comes down to money. When the city, county, or state has to allocate public funds for this purpose, how popular do you think it is to ask taxpayers to provide the funds to pay lawyers who will defend those accused of crimes?